DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MAY 6, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM OF 94 SEATS, BJP HAS ALREADY WON SURAT UNOPPOSED CampaigningforPhase3ends: 93LSseatstovotetomorrow ModitargetsSP,Cong‘dynastic politics’; PMwantstotakeawayquota:Rahul VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, MAY 5 CAMPAIGNING ENDED on Sundayforthethirdphaseof the Lok Sabha elections, the run-up to which saw the Constitution and reservation issue dominating the poll discourse. With the first two phases registering a dip in voter turnout as compared to 2019,thequestioniswhetherthe DECISION third phase will buck the trend. While 94 constituencies across 12 states and Union Territories were scheduled to vote on Tuesday, the BJP has already won Surat in Gujarat unopposed, and the poll for Anantnag-RajouriseatinJammu and Kashmir has been deferred to May 25. However, polling in Betul in Madhya Pradesh, which was to be held in the second 2024 ● Victory margins thin, Jharkhand wants migrants back in time for voting ● Behind BJP’s attempt to target Pandian’s wife KEYSEATS Shakeel Badayuni’s verses enliven poll campaigns as his house lies in ruins ●InGujarattribal belts,wateraccess,jobs toppriorityforvoters PAGES 6, 7 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 I-T clause to ensure Identities out after MSMEs are paid on Prajwal clips, many time creates hurdle women leave home AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, MAY 5 A NEW PROVISION in the Income-Tax Act in Budget 202324 that aimed to ensure payments to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within 45 days has resulted in a peculiar problem — that of large companies canceling orders to registered MSMEs and placing thesewithunregisteredMSMEs. While some MSME associations have approached the Supreme Court against the new norm,theUnionMSMEMinistry is learnt to have reached out to industry players for solutions. It has asked stakeholders to suggest ways to resolve the issues arising from the I-T Act and to recommend possible alternate BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY EXPLAINED Large companies shift to unregistered MSMEs as tax liability piles up KIRAN PARASHAR HASSAN, MAY 5 E WITH VIDEO clips being circulated of multiple women who were allegedly sexually assaulted by JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, several women who were purportedly among the victims have left their homes in Karnataka’s Hassan district over the last 10 days. Hassan is the bastion of JD(S) chief and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. Prajwal, Deve Gowda's grandson, is the sitting MP from Hassan, and is seeking re-election. While Prajwal left the country soon after polling in Hassan on April 26, his father, H D Revanna, MLA from Holenarasipur, was arrested on Saturday in connection with the abductionof awoman,allegedly topreventherfromapproaching the Special Investigation Team (SIT). “The entire district is in H D Hiccups in shift to new ● creditcycle THE NEW clause aimed to secure MSME bills are paid by business houses within 45 days against the prevailing business cycle of 90-120 days. This is ironically hurting some MSMEs with firms shifting business to unregistered micro and small units. The Ministry has now sought suggestions to resolve this. mechanisms for timely clearance of MSME bills. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BENGAL GUV CITES CONSTITUTIONAL IMMUNITY Ignore police summons on woman’s complaint: Bose to Raj Bhavan staff EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MAMATA: SANDESHKHALI ‘MISTRUTH’WAS SPREADBYBJP USINGMONEY PAGE3 Express Revanna’s control. You speak ill about them and chances are high that it will reach them, because the family and the party CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 5 Poonch terror attack ‘poll stunt’ to help BJP: Punjab ex-CM Channi West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose KOLKATA, MAY 5 INSIDE A farmhouse of the Deve Gowda family in Hassan. Police say many of the sex videos were recorded here. A DAY after the Kolkata Police formed a special team to probe the sexual harassment charges against him, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Sunday wrote to Raj Bhavan employeesandaskedthemtoignore anycommunicationfromthepolice. He also reminded the Raj Bhavanstaffthatnocriminalproceedingscanbeinstitutedagainst the Governor during his term of office, as per the Constitution. On Thursday, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) flagged the complaint of a womancontractualemployeeat the Raj Bhavan who alleged that the Governor had sexually ha- rassed her. Bose had hit back saying that “truth would triumph,” and he would not be “cowed down by engineered narratives.” On Saturday,aneight-memberspecialenquiryteamwasformedby the Kolkata Police to probe the allegations. The team led by Deputy Commissioner (Central) Indira Mukherjee had requested theRajBhavantosharetheCCTV footage and was planning to speak to a few of the staff CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Channi is Cong’s LS candidate from Jalandhar ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA JALANDHAR, MAY 5 CONGRESS LEADER and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi Sunday said the Poonch militant attack, in which an IAF corporal was killed and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 5 ‘Divided on religion’: Delimitation deepens faultlines in two Assam seats PAGE 1 ANCHOR CHANGED BOUNDARIES Post-delimitation Pre-delimitation SUKRITA BARUAH CHENGA (ASSAM), MAY 5 IN CHENGA area of Assam’s Barpeta district, the set of Lok Sabha candidates on election posters can change from one villagetothenext.InSutiyaparavillage, for instance, the posters are of candidates for the Barpeta Lok Sabhaseat.Butinthenextvillage of Kakdhowa, the posters are for the Dhubri constituency candidates.Alittlefurther,inHilaBazar, itistheBarpetacandidatesagain. Golab Hussain, whose roadside grocery store displays posters of the CPI(M)’s Barpeta Barpeta Dhubri Vote share (%) in Dhubri Party 2014 2019 AIUDF 43.27 42.66 INC 26.49 29.23 AGP 0.72 23.72 BJP 21.83 — Vote share (%) in Barpeta Party 2014 2019 INC 23.04 44.23 AGP 6.11 34.61 AIUDF 32.73 17.05 BJP 29.22 — Source: Election Commission; Note: AGP, BJP were allies in 2019 candidate,ManoranjanTalukdar, as well as the Congress’s Dhubri nominee, Rakibul Hussain, ex- plains that across the road from the shop is Sutiyapara village, partof the Barpetaconstituency, and behind the shop is Gelabil village, part of the Dhubri seat. Until last year, Gelabil was part of Barpeta constituency. It was made a part of Dhubri during the delimitation of parliamentaryandAssemblyseatslast year. Among the 14 parliamentary seats in Assam, Dhubri and Barpeta saw the most drastic changes during the exercise. “We feel that we have been divided on the basis of religion... Assamese Hindu villages are in Barpeta and Muslim villages are in Dhubri,” says Hussain. Dhubri, which is the state’s western-most constituency and includes areas bordering Bangladesh,hasAssam'shighest percentageofvotersfromtheminority community. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata